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Older adults’ use of mobile device: usability challenges while navigating various interfaces
Open accessAbstract
Mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous among older adults, but have also caused unprecedented challenges due to the high demands of interaction techniques and changeable design patterns found across various applications. This paper aims to investigate how older adults navigate with mobile interfaces and identify their potential usability challenges while navigating. To do so, we summarised six state-of-the-art mobile interface design patterns and conducted individual usability test and in-depth interview with 22 older adults. Participants were asked to perform 19 navigation tasks that contain these design patterns under realistic usage scenarios. Follow-up interviews were held to collect their detailed comments on usability issues regarding visual design, ease of understanding, and interaction and navigation of the design patterns, as well as their personal experience. The results found that overall older adults were able to navigate contents more effectively than menus and buttons. Participants experienced great challenges in directing their attention to the menus and buttons, understanding the meaning of icons, and interacting with these menu components. In contrast, the content-oriented navigation design performed better in understanding, navigation, and interaction, which could be a promising direction for elderly-friendly mobile application design. Design implications are further discussed for creating an elderly-friendly mobile interface.
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“Users focused more on the content than navigation cues, similar to prior studies [50], and did not open vertical menus, such as the side drawer and springboard to explore menu options further [37].”
From "Where is history": Toward Designing a Voice Assistant to help Older Adults locate Interface Features quickly (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
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“Most recently, it has been observed that not being able to locate the correct features-within a reasonable amount of time-at either the beginning or during a task constitutes the core struggle of older adults when trying to explore and use a feature-rich UI [37,45].”
From "Where is history": Toward Designing a Voice Assistant to help Older Adults locate Interface Features quickly (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
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“Studies have also shown that older adults fxate more on the central part of the screen than the peripheral top and left parts, where many mobile interface menus often reside [37,50].”
From "Where is history": Toward Designing a Voice Assistant to help Older Adults locate Interface Features quickly (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
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“Although mobile apps do not have hundreds of features as found in desktop interfaces, even tens of features and hidden navigation menu structures can cause usability issues [37].”
From "Where is history": Toward Designing a Voice Assistant to help Older Adults locate Interface Features quickly (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“Although this number might seem low, studies have shown that failing to locate the correct feature even once during a task often leads to looping, several back-andforths, and ultimately task abandonment and user frustration [37,69].”
From "Where is history": Toward Designing a Voice Assistant to help Older Adults locate Interface Features quickly (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
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“In particular, app navigation issues have been reported repeatedly when studying how older adults use feature-rich mobile interfaces [37,38].”
From "Where is history": Toward Designing a Voice Assistant to help Older Adults locate Interface Features quickly (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
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“For example, when studying how older users accomplish diferent tasks using a smartphone, researchers observed difculty in directing attention to tab menus, recognizing scrollable tab menus, and distinguishing between neighboring or similar-appearing icons and buttons [37].”
From "Where is history": Toward Designing a Voice Assistant to help Older Adults locate Interface Features quickly (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Li, Q., & Luximon, Y.
- Affiliations
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Corresponding author
- Luximon, Yan
- Venue
- Behaviour & Information Technology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-06-03
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 837-861
- ISSN
- 0144-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1362-3001
- OpenAlex
- W2948526175
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 15.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Behaviour and Information Technology (publishedVersion)
- PolyU Institutional Research Archive (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (RU9Y)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Usability and User Interface Design
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Digital Accessibility for Disabilities
- Keywords
- older adults, mobile devices, mobile interface design, navigation, usability problems, design patterns, icons, elderly-friendly design
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